Cherryville many be thousands of kilometres from Taiwan, but the island off the coast of mainland China is getting a view of this side of the Pacific thanks to a local artist.
Gary Whitley, whose home and studio is located on Highway 6 in Cherryville, is currently showing two of his paintings at an international exhibition called Migration at the National Taiwan Arts Education Centre in Taipei City.
Hosted by the Canadian alumni of the National Taiwan Normal University Department of Fine Art, a number of North American artists, including six from B.C., are represented in the show.
“Some are alumni who graduated from the university but now live in the U.S. and Canada,” said Whitley.
Whitley heard about the exhibition through his agent Mila Kostic, a Vancouver artist who is also showing her work in the show.
This is the second time in recent months that Whitley has had his work exhibited in that part of the world.
Last fall, he joined Vernon artist Michael Jell and 10 other B.C. member artists from the Canadian Federation of Artists in showing their work at the Pacific Rim Arts Exchange Show in Tianjin, China.
The artists’ work was purchased and then shipped over to China to be displayed in a 5,000-square metre ground floor hall in the city’s 15,000 square-metre Art and Technology Museum.
Included in that exhibition were nine of Whitley’s paintings. For the Taiwan exhibition, he is exhibiting a landscape and still life, showing a view of Roger’s Pass and sunflowers.
“For me, painting is an obsession,” says Whitley. “Many of my landscapes are of the area, however, some are derived from long hours on horseback in remote high-elevation backcountry that few people have the opportunity to see.
“My wife and I spend considerable time riding in the summer, all over B.C. and Alberta. My florals are a result of the extensive flower garden she has created. I also paint subject matter that I simply find interesting.”